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Show MATTER rf FAC'r- MATTER of FACT. where McDongal's brigade was defeated; and finally, to 3'", duce the Roval Army to retreat, Whe." they had driven thg Rebels into aifittiation of the greatell dillreis and difniay, ready to have difperl‘ed, had any attack been made upon them. Here we left them to return and itorm Fort l/Vafhlngton, after we had allowed Mr. \Vafhington to pals the North River in our view; occupy Fort Lee, and el‘cape‘ from thence With more than double the garrilim of Fort \‘llziflllng'ton. Pollibly this was a picce of generalihip, as we took thofe garrllons pri. toners ; but it was changing the fyl'tcm upon which we had be. fore aéted, unlcfs it was thought beneath the courage of the Royal Army to take Rebels, until we had fufiered them to get fate into their very ftrongeft poll. findthejcrfeys. _ General Grant having intelligence that Mr. lVafhington in. Gen. Grant and tended to attack. Trenton, mftead of ordering up the hem in- Col. Rhall car. 1': fantry from Prince Town, fent only twentv light bani, and twentyfour light infantry to Trenton the dity before. Rhall of Trenton lofs. feeing fo_httle precaution taken by the general, looked upon the intelligence as falle, and got drunk as ufual. The confequenccs which alznolt naturally followed were fuch, Confequences of and they archat the fame time To notorious, that I lhall {pate this milconduét. your Lordfhlp the pain of feeing them recited. It is fuflicient to fay, that thofe naked, difpirited runaways, whom we allow" viétorious army, and in two or three fucceisful actions, killed and took half their own numbers, obliginp‘ us to abandon all our polls in Jerfey, except Amboy and Brunfivick, and a reqie body of troops were not detached from New York to Newark, Elifahcth-Town, or even Amboy, to cut off his retreat, put him between two fires, and oblige him to furrender, and by that means put an end to the war, which the Rebels themfelvel have often conferred it would certainly have done. Was not this {timethingr worfe than a blunder, or even indole'nce P I can tnent llou'ed into the few houfes in Bonham Town to keEp open the communication. . Thus, from being in full polleflion of that whole province, We were reduced to thofe three villages, the farthell extendingfourteen miles into the country. Here the army remained all Winter, obliged to fight for every mouthful ot‘t‘orage and freih provilions which they obtained : with what lots the returns of the army will beltllhew. And permit me to all: your Lordlhip, allure your Lordfhip, that many of the moft JUdlClOUS leaders was it not molt fhameful? Iwill venture to Milan, that in tlic among the rebels were even afionilhed at it, and were {0 free as hifiory of all the wars which ever yet exilled in the annals of all to declare to me, that they fuppofed the war would have been military mifconduét which ever yet appeared, there is not a too fliort, had it been put an end to in one campaign. whilit every man in America flood allonifhed, and everyloyal fingle example to take flielter under. Great military geniufes have often changed the nature of a Strength Sc conWar from the defenlive to the otleiifive, by tome ilroke of mili- dition of the, re, taryfkill in the field, or have with an inferior force inlulted their belarmy in wintcr t776-7. enemy in his winter quarters, and even obliged him to relinquifh them. But this was wh ere troops were fuperior in native courage, or excelled in difcipline ; where they were in want of none fubj-cft there was chagrined and difappointedwfully convmced that nothing lefs than blindnefs directed by ignorance, could Ver them in cafe of a defeat ; or where the enemy could not be have allowed their an enemy to efcape in inch 21 fituation. But, reinforced. as has conflantly been our lot, our allonifhment was not fuller- caufes can be pleaded. . ~ 0n the halt at A halt at Brunfivick, for v rant of orders, when the fugitives Brunfwick. were in view, allowed them time to retreat to the Delaware, and to erofs that river, to the allonilhment even of themfelves. Yet has this march through the Jerfeys been extolled to your Lordfillp. and the public has been infulted with the publicanon; mm‘ {"5ch '10 ed to ref; long upon the pail, the future mifconduét foon called refi. PrincesTown. ed to flip out of our hands a few days before, returned upon a Allowing hlr. Vx'ail'iington to efcape thrOUgh the Jet-feyg when he had not above five-and-twenty hundred poor, difpiritcd, naked frugitives to attend him, is a thing without example. I beg youriLordlliip will look upon the map of New Jerley fora moment, and then endeavour, if pollible, to conceivewhya Our afionifli- ' "99 to all cutlom and order) placed thirteen miles in the tear at of the necefl‘aries for making war, and had fortified towns to coBut in the inllance before us, not one of all thefe \Vafliington was but three thoufand firong when he attacked Trenton, and thofe men {0 fatigued A line was formed from Mount Holly on the Delaware, and benumbed with the cold, that they were unable to handle to the village of Newark, by occupying open villages. The fame army which would not detach a part to intercept Mr. their arms ; and it was with the greatell difficulty any of them it oil. recrofled the Delaware, and near half of them died, or were \Vafhin-gjton in his flight, was extended in a line ofnearlya rendered unfit for duty. hundred miles, without a lingle redoubt to cover any one P0 . A brigade of Heffians commanded by a drunken madman, W35 my Lord. I {peak from (13513672th i/rflrrrvza/z'on, At no time during the winter was the rebel army placed in Trenton ; the moll important poft, forming the angle ofthe whole line, and ncareft the enemy; Whilfi the Bfmlh aboVe five thoufand thong, often not three, and thole in want 0f almoil every article of cloathing. Yet with that inferior, naked force, Mr. lVaflrington blockaded our army in their light infalltrf: the bcft troops in the univerfe were, (contrag quarters, and remained the whole winter in unmolelled poifllef.* g 109 |